Groups rally to tackle threats to refugees

 

Photo: Excerpts from speakers are on page 10.

Faith and nonprofit groups who do refugee resettlement in the region and rely on federal funds have grappled with the dire effects of recent executive orders related to refugees and immigrants.

Those orders include suspending entry of undocumented migrants for any reason at the southern border; canceling use of an app for asylum seekers to schedule appointments; using the U.S. Northern Command to seal borders and repealing the 14th Amendment that grants birthright citizenship.

Some recent Spokesman Review articles, which tell stories of some who have been detained, contradict the claim that the priority would be to deport undocumented migrants who pose threats to security.

The threats of these policies and their actual implementation have had impact on activities of some area agencies that work with immigrants and refugees.

According to Christi Armstrong, executive director of World Relief, which resettles refugees in Spokane, the first of the executive orders froze funding for any refugee resettlement. This closed off entry for refugees already authorized to come to the U.S.

"Between Oct. 1, 2024, and Sept. 30, 2025, we were supposed to receive 750 refugees who had already been vigorously vetted and accepted by the federal government. As of now we have received a little over 300 people," she said.

After the inauguration, World Relief received notice from the State Department about refugees who were scheduled to arrive. Since then, their flights were cancelled, and the refugees were abandoned—unable to go to their destination or return.

Similar cancellations happened to migrants at the southern border who had waited months and succeeded in using the CBP One app to obtain appointments with the Customs and Border Patrol to have their cases heard. These appointments were cancelled at noon on inauguration day, Christi said.

With the funding freeze on refugee resettlement, those already here are also affected.

"The suspended federal funding for grants and loans and freezing our resettlement contract means that we can't pay the money promised to refugees already here for things like rent, food, clothing  and furnishings for their first 90 days here as they were promised. We can't pay our staff either," Christi explained. 

Thrive International works with refugees on a different model and relies less on federal funding. Spokane Thrive, housed in a former downtown motel, provides temporary refugee housing, education and programs under one roof.

It seeks to move refugees from surviving to thriving through programs on affordable housing and and to empower women and youth. Thrive has started a second similar operation in Tacoma, where the major Washington State detention center for immigrants is located.

Policies and threats of the current administration galvanized its executive director Mark Finney to gather a group of faith-based folks who serve the immigrant community.

On Feb. 6, about 30 people met at the Thrive headquarters for a Unified Faith Forum to develop a coordinated response to support those vulnerable to the administration's actions.

Bishop Gretchen Rehberg, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane, began the session by challenging those present and laying out the call to people of faith in this time.

"The first thing that people of faith need to do in this time is to be people of faith—not people of despair, not people of anger or division or hatred. There are enough people who are that already. Be people of faith! We need to observe, discern what God is calling us to do and be here and now, then to plan, to organize and to work. We have to do the work and bear good fruit," she said.

After table discussions, the group made suggestions for responses to the concerns expressed by questions raised by those assembled. Suggestions included building a directory of resources to guide faith communities to make effective responses in different situations.

For Lutheran Community Services Northwest's Inland Northwest District in Spokane, the main program affected is the one that places unaccompanied refugee minor youth in foster homes in Spokane and its satellite office in Tri-Cities, said Shelly Hahn, district director. Once these young people are placed, the program supports them as they navigate a path to independent living. The services include case management, health and mental health care.

The unaccompanied young people have come from places as diverse as Eritrea and Guatemala and include some who crossed the southern border.

"We rely on federal funding, that filters through the Washington State Office of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance and has not been cut as of now," Shelly said. "What stopped is travel. So far 26 youth traveling from overseas to various resettlement programs across the U.S. were stopped by a 90-day travel pause. In the last Trump administration, travel never resumed after the 90-day pause. We don't know what to expect this time."

Many organizations that work with immigrants and refugees in the region have been holding Know Your Rights trainings since the election. At a workshop for the League of Women Voters, Sam Smith, director of immigrant legal aid at Manzanita House, handed out small red cards with a list of rights to know in case one is detained. He listed those rights.

1) Be silent. Ask to speak to a lawyer and stop talking. Do NOT provide false information.

2) Don't open your door unless the agent has a judicial warrant from a court, not from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

3) Don't sign anything. You may be admitting to or giving up something by signing.

4) You are free from unreasonable search, no matter where you are.

5) Document everything, including the names and badge numbers of agents. You can use your phone to record what is happening unless it is on government property.

6) Have a plan in place for your family in case a family member is detained.

Asked in the session if he saw evidence that parents were keeping children home from school for fear of ICE coming to the school, Sam said he had not.

However, in areas with larger immigrant populations like the Yakima Valley, such a fear caused a temporary drop in attendance in spite of the state's Keep Washington Working Act that limits law enforcement and protects immigrants.

More than 100 concerned Yakima Valley citizens met in January before the inauguration to share what they were hearing and develop strategies of response. They set strategies in 10 areas—advocacy and direct action, know your rights, communications, Yakama Nation, rapid response, government relations, support for schools, accompaniment, actions for faith communities and family safety planning.

By mid-February, the presence of ICE vehicles had been documented in towns from Yakima to the lower Valley. Sister Mary Ellen Robinson, SNJM, a long-time resident of Wapato, praised the work of Yakima Immigrant Response Network (YIRN). "When there is a reported sighting, they check it out and let us know whether it is true or only a rumor. They help keep us informed."

Sister Mary Ellen also talked about the use of fear as part of ICE tactics, things like parking a well-marked immigration enforcement vehicle near stores that immigrants are known to frequent to intimidate potential shoppers," she said.

Mike Gonzalez, who owns Fiesta Foods in Sunnyside, affirmed that trend. It prompted him to call a meeting with city council members to inform them.

Recently, the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network (WAISN) executive director Catalina Velasquez decried the administration's new policies and told what the organization is doing to counteract the situation.

She reported that WAISN has expanded its hours of operation for its Deportation Defense Hotline (844-724-3737). It is now available from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, in more than 300 languages.

In addition, a WAISN press release said its Fair Fight Bond Fund pays for "the release of individuals from the violence and injustice of immigration detention," adding, "we are also equipping our communities with Know-Your-Rights information and collaborating with partners to host family preparedness clinics."

Those in refugee and immigrant work agree that contrary to the call to make America great again, the policies and deportations carried out by the American military are causing negative repercussions internationally.

For example, a flight returned 88 Brazilians arriving in handcuffs and with shackles on their feet. They had not been given water or allowed to use a restroom. The Brazilian government called it "flagrant disregard" for migrants' rights and formed a working group with U.S. representatives "to guarantee the humane reception" of deportees.

While there is general agreement that the U.S. immigration system is broken, there is no agreement on how to fix it.

Pope Francis wrote to American Catholic bishops on Feb. 10, critiquing the immigration policy and suggesting humane principles on which to base a good system.

"The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality," he wrote. "Deporting people who in many cases left their land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment damages the dignity of men, women and families, and places them in a state of vulnerability and defenselessness."

The Pope continued, saying that an authentic rule of law is verified in the dignified treatment all people deserve—especially the poorest and most marginalized. The common good is promoted when society and government welcome, protect, promote and integrate the most fragile, unprotected and vulnerable.

He added that developing a policy that regulates orderly and legal migration cannot "come about through the privilege of some and sacrifice of others. What is built on the basis of force and not on the truth of the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly."

For information, visit worldrelief.org/spokane, thriveint.org, lcsnw.org, manzanitahousespokane.org or waisn.org.